Where to Find Local Farms

Use this website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.

Local Harvest Website

Food Renegade - Awesome Website!

I just stumbled across this website and it is awesome!

Food Renegade Website

Organic Dog Biscuits

1 cup organic flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ground peanuts
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tbls toasted wheat germ

------------- (Mix together)

3/4 cup butter

------------(Mix together with pastry blender)
1 egg
2 - 3 tbls water

Knead dough for 4-6 strokes. Make dough into balls.

325 degrees on ungreased cookie sheet. Cook for 25 minutes.

Let cookies cool for 2 hours.

Next time I would make a double batch though. This recipe didn't make enough.

Heidi loved them! She would sit by her dog treat container and stare at them until someone would give her one.

Organic Whole Wheat Christmas Cookies Part 2

Repeat from post 1:

I am in the middle of a giant, week long Christmas cookie extravaganza. I made all the cookies with organics products - evaporated cane juice sugar, organic brown sugars, organic eggs, Celtic sea salt, organic baking powder and soda, organic cocoa, agave nectar (in place of corn syrup), absolutely everything except for the chocolate chips. I am not to the point of using carob chips yet for chocolate chips (they are too expensive, $5 a bag!), so I went with Ghirardelli chocolate chips.

The part that I am most excited about is that I used whole wheat pastry flour in all of the cookies. And let me tell you, the results are amazing! No one would every know they are whole wheat cookies unless you told them. My taste testers said they felt the cookie had a slightly heartier taste, but that it a good thing. In all the recipes I used half whole wheat flour and half organic all-purpose flour. If I would have been making them only for my family, I would have used all whole wheat flour, but I planned on giving some away, and serving them to company, and I didn't want to risk any comments.

I have a lot of recipes to share, so I will do it in multiple posts. My goal this year was to make all sorts of different cookies that I had never made before. Every year I make the same cookies and this year I wanted to change things up.

WHOLE WHEAT COOKIES NOTE: I found that I needed to cook the cookies longer than I normally would if I only used regular flour. Usually I am at the low end of the time bracket. With whole wheat cookies, I was at the high end of the bracket. Wheat makes a darker cookie too so it can be hard to tell when they are done. Use your best judgement. It worked every time for me.

Also, whenever you see a -------, this means to mix the batter.

George W. Bush's Cowboy Cookies

This is one of my son's favorite cookies I made this year.

3/4 cup butter

------------------(Mix together)

3/4 sugar
3/4 brown sugar

--------------------(Mix together)

1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda

--------------------(Mix together)

2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

--------------------(Mix together)

1 1/2 cups flour

--------------------(Mix together)

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

-------------------(Mix together)

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped toasted pecans

350 degrees for 13 minutes. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Cherry Rum Biscotti

1 1/4 cups dried tart red cherries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup spiced rum
---------
In a saucepan, combine cherries and rum. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and let stand for 15 minutes. Pat dry cherries with a paper towel.

1/2 cup butter

--------------(Mix together)

1 cup sugar
1 tbls baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

-------------(Mix together)

3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

-------------(Mix together)

3 1/4 cups flour

-------------(Mix together)

3/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Divide dough in thirds. Shape each portion into a 9 inch long loaf. Flatten each loaf to a 2-1/2 inch thickness. The loaves should be 3 inches apart on the cookie sheets.

This dough is thick! I broke a spatula just trying to work with it.

350 degrees, on parchment paper on a large cookie sheet, 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Biscotti in the oven

Cool completely on wire rack, about 1 hour. Then take a very sharp serrated knife and cut diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices. Bake 10 minutes, turn slices over and bake another 10-15 minutes to dry the cookie out. Cool on a cooling rack.

Rum Icing

1 1/2 cups sifted powder sugar and 1 tablespoon rum.  Add enough additional rum to make a drizzling consistency. Drizzle on cooled cookies.

They turned out excellent! They are the perfect cookie for coffee.

Organic Whole Wheat Christmas Cookies Part 1

Sprouted Corn Tortillas

While at Whole Foods yesterday, I found organic sprouted corn tortillas. I had tried the sprouted wheat bread the other day and it was fantastic, so I wanted to try the other products.

 

This company, Food for Life, knows what it is doing when it comes to sprouting grains and making them delicious.

I made a steak taco with the tortillas.

Spectacular!

Organic Sprouted Wheat Buns

Let me tell you about my new found love affair with sprouted wheat. I was in the natural section in the grocery store and I saw sprouted wheat hot dog buns. I have never heard of sprouted wheat before. I picked them up expecting something that would be extremely tough without much flavor. Boy, was I wrong. Delicious! The brand I purchased was Food for Life.

Food for Life Website

I purchased the hot dog buns. They came frozen and my goodness are they as hard as a rock in the package. Take them out before you plan on using them. I took mine from the freezer to the fry pan. It takes quite a bit longer to dethaw them when they are completely frozen. I warmed them in a pan on low until I was able to split them apart from each other. I then flipped them on their sides and kept rotating them to evenly dethaw. The trick to fabulous flavor was that I added some cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil to the pan. Just a little bit. Enough to give it some flavor. This made the outsides come out nice and crispy. I then made some natural, kosher hot dogs in a pan - these are spectacular too! They taste completely different, yet way better.

If you are concerned about losing flavor with sprouted wheat, I would say it is exactly the opposite - more flavor and a better product.

So what is sprouted wheat? This is a section from the Food for Life website explaining the nutritional benefits:

The process of germination changes the composition of grain and seeds in numerous ways. Sprouting increases vitamin content. Sprouting neutralizes phytic acid – a substance present in grains – that inhibits absorption of nutrients and more important Sprouting neutralizes or "predigests" if you will, grains through enzymatic activity. The enzymes produced during our natural sprouting process "in effect" breaks down amino acid protein bonds to promote digestibility of the entire grain.

Sprouted grain bread has numerous advantages over "enriched" wheat flour breads. These breads are made from the endosperm of the wheat kernel (the inside portion), which contains primarily carbohydrates and few vitamins and minerals. The milling of grain into white flour requires the removal of the bran and the germ. This results in the loss of natural fiber, bran and 22 vitamins and minerals. To compensate, five vitamins and minerals (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, iron and folic acid) are added back in, "enriching" the flour. Sometimes calcium is added back as well.

Food For Life is inspired by the Holy Scripture verse Ezekiel 4:9. Our 2,500 year old prodigy is made from six certified organic grains and legumes, sprouted in filtered water with a touch of organic malted barley and sea salt. This bread is truly the staff of life.

As well, Organic Sprouted Whole Grain Products have increased vitamin content generated by the sprouting process and contain a superior quality protein that closely parallels the protein found in milk and eggs, containing all 9 essential amino acids. In total, there are 18 amino acids present in this unique bread.

Food for Life Website

King Arthur Flour

Some great videos on the various techniques needed to make bread at home.

King Arthur Bakery Techniques

Whole Wheat Organic Christmas Cookies Part 1

I am in the middle of a giant, week long Christmas cookie extravaganza. I made all the cookies with organics products - evaporated cane juice sugar, organic brown sugars, organic eggs, Celtic sea salt, organic baking powder and soda, organic cocoa, agave nectar (in place of corn syrup), absolutely everything except for the chocolate chips. I am not to the point of using carob chips yet for chocolate chips (they are too expensive, $5 a bag!), so I went with Ghirardelli chocolate chips.

The part that I am most excited about is that I used whole wheat pastry flour in all of the cookies. And let me tell you, the results are amazing! No one would every know they are whole wheat cookies unless you told them. My taste testers said they felt the cookie had a slightly heartier taste, but that it a good thing. In all the recipes I used half whole wheat flour and half organic all-purpose flour. If I would have been making them only for my family, I would have used all whole wheat flour, but I planned on giving some away, and serving them to company, and I didn't want to risk any comments. 

I have a lot of recipes to share, so I will do it in multiple posts. My goal this year was to make all sorts of different cookies that I had never made before. Every year I make the same cookies and this year I wanted to change things up.

WHOLE WHEAT COOKIES NOTE: I found that I needed to cook the cookies longer than I normally would if I only used regular flour. Usually I am at the low end of the time bracket. With whole wheat cookies, I was at the high end of the bracket. Wheat makes a darker cookie too so it can be hard to tell when they are done. Use your best judgement. It worked every time for me.

Also, whenever you see a -------, this means to mix the batter.

Praline Topped Brown Sugar Slices

All of the recipes are excellent, but this is the best so far.

Cookie

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

----------(Mix together)

1 egg

2 tablespoons Half & Half

1.5 tsp vanilla

----------(Mix together)

3 cups flour

.5 tsp baking powder

.25 tsp baking soda

.25 tsp salt

-----------(Mix together)

2/3 cup finely chopped pecans

Roll into 8.5 inch long logs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1-2 hours until firm.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Ungreased cookie sheets. Cut logs into 1/4 inch slices. Bake 9 minutes. Cool completely on cooling rack.

Topping

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup half and half

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cups finely chopped pecans

Heat brown sugar, butter and half & half in a saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. When it starts to boil, leave it cook WITHOUT stirring for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add in powdered sugar and pecans. Cover cookies immediately with topping. You will need to be very fast. The topping hardens quickly. I recruited help to go as fast as possible and it still hardened on us. So grab a friend and move fast!

Let cool before packing away. Use wax paper between layers in the container you use.

 Starbucks Mocha Brownie Cookies

If you love coffee, these cookies are amazing! The coffee is so strong and they fill the void that has been left by my broken espresso machine.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Ungreased cookie sheets.

1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
3 packets instant Starbucks coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons water

----------(Mix together)

2 eggs

-----------(Mix together)

Combine separately
2.5 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Gradually add this mixture to the butter mixture.

Add 1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Bake 9-11 minutes. Cool 3 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.


Chocolate Fudge Crackles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Ungreased cookie sheets.

1 cup butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup agave nectar

-----------(Mix together)

2 egg yolks (save egg whites)

1.5 tsp vanilla

-----------(Mix together)

1.5 cups flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/4 tsp baking soda

Combine all ingredients. Shape into 1-inch balls with floured hands.

Roll balls in the remaining egg whites.

Then roll in 1 cup pecans that are chopped and toasted

Bake 10-12 minutes. Let stand on cookie sheets for 1 minute and then transfer to cooling rack.

Organic Ciabatta Bread

This ciabatta bread turned out spectacular! I could not be happier with the way it turned out.

4.5 cups organic bread flour
2.5 teaspoons sea salt - I use Celtic for the vital nutrients and minerals
1.25 teaspoons instant yeast
2 cups 55 degree water
1 tablespoon cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil

I mixed all the ingredients except for the oil together with the paddle attachment on my mixer on low for 1 minute. I then let it rest for five minutes. I drizzled the olive oil on the dough and mixed it on medium-low for 1 minute. I oiled a non-reactive bowl and put the dough in the bowl for 10 minutes. I then stretched and folded the dough a couple times.

Peter Reinhart doing the stretch and fold technique

I covered the dough for 10 minutes again. I repeated this process three more times of stretch and fold and then letting the dough rise. After I was done, I put the dough in the fridge to rise overnight.

In the morning I pulled the dough out 3 hours before baking. After an hour, I took the dough out carefully, made the dough into a square and divided the dough into two pieces. I took one piece and on a floured counter, formed the dough into a rectangle. I then folded the sides over on the dough folding it like a letter. I rolled it as one big piece in the flour for a couple seconds and then put it seam side down on floured parchment paper. I did the same thing with the other half. I oil misted the tops and then covered it with a baking couch for an hour.

After an hour, I took it in my hands, flipped it over and let it fall into a more square like loaf shape. I then put it back on the parchment paper and used my metal pastry scraper and formed it into a better rectangle.

There are big bubbles. This is perfect! It is an airy bread
and you want to keep it that way.

I left it for another hour. An hour before baking I turned the oven on to 550 degrees.

When it was time to bake the bread, I prepared the oven in the same way I did the French boule with the water. When I put the bread in the oven, I dropped the temperature to 450 degrees.

Preparing the oven

After 12 minutes, I rotated it and then baked it for another 15 minutes.

It turned out amazing! I can't believe that more people do not make bread from scratch when it is such a perfect outcome. And once you know what you are doing, it isn't that tremendous amount of work.

The air bubbles are perfect inside!

Sweet Water Organics

http://sweetwater-organic.com/

Sweet Water Organics is an urban aquaponic farm in Bayview that provides quality fish and produce for restaurants, grocery, and consumers.

Sweet Water Organics Video

The above link is a video clip from Wisconsin Foodie on Sweet Water.

Mexican Wedding Cakes

We decided at the last minute to make Mexican Wedding cakes tonight. The recipe we used was:

325 degrees, for 17 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt                
• 4 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups ground pecans
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for rolling

We mixed the ingredients in that order.

We made one teaspoon balls. The recipe has no baking powder or baking soda so you can keep the cookies tight since they do not spread much.

After 17 minutes, they were perfect.

White hot, we shook powdered sugar on top.

I am upstairs now putting this together and I bet by the time I get back downstairs, they will be all gone.



Baby of course loved them too.

Salsa Di Parmigiano

I was at the doctor's office taking my baby in for his year appointment and I happened to catch this recipe on Nate Berkus. This was a recipe courtesy of Michael Chiarello. Michael Chiraello is a celebrity chef specializing in Italian influenced California cuisine.

One of the recipes they featured was this parmesan dip.

Salsa Di Parmigiano (“Parm Dip”)
Makes 3 ½ Cups to Serve 16
Ingredients
½ pound Parmesan cheese, not too dry
½ pound Asiago cheese, not too dry
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil

Remove any rind from the cheeses and chop the cheeses into rough 1-inch chunks. Pulse the cheeses in a food processor until reduced to the size of a fine pea gravel. Transfer the cheese to a bowl and stir in the green onion and garlic.

 

Adding the fresh garlic.

Add the oregano, rubbing between your fingers to release its fragrance. Add the black pepper, red pepper flakes, and olive oil. Stir well. Cover and let stand at room temperature at least 4 hours before serving.

 

 

The dip turned out great. I bought an assortment of whole grain organic crackers.

My mother in law even put it on a steak taco.

Flaming Panela Cheese

When we were in Chicago this past fall we went to a Mexican restaurant right off the Magnificent Mile on west Hubbard called Dos Diablos.

Dos Diablos Website

We went there to sip drinks on the patio while we waited for our favorite steak place to open. We ended up having an appetizer that was called Mexican Saganaki. My husband always talks about this how it is popular in Mexico. It is a Mexican cheese, panela, that they pour Mexican brandy and lime on top of and light on fire table side. They serve it with tortillas. The cheese is very nutty and salty, and the little charred pieces are the best. It became my favorite of which I call - flaming cheese.

I bought a package of panela cheese and I sliced it up and put it in a hot pan.

(Don't judge on the ugliness of the pan - we seriously need some new pans)

I cooked it until it was dark on the other side. We prefer it dark. Those crispy, dark brown pieces are the best part.

(If you notice, there are a few little pieces missing now - I felt
those needed to be sampled to ensure quality :)  )

I warmed up some tortillas and would just rip off pieces of tortillas and rip off pieces of cheese and eat it together. Delicious! 

The boys said this is their new favorite thing. Diego thought for sure
God was eating this in heaven right now.

When I went to the store to look for organic panela cheese, I couldn't find it. I then went to the cheese section and looked for the cheese that had the least ingredients. I looked where it was manufactured in, and I based my decision off that. If I can't find organic, then I try to choose the "most natural" product available.

I was recently doing a project for a graduate ethics class and I found an article on the food production outside of the United States. I am going to quote a part of the paper here. If you are interested at all in the quality of our food supply, this is quite interesting.

In an effort to make cheaper and cheaper food, the United States now imports $4.1 billion worth of seafood and agricultural products from China, up from $800 million in 1995. This increase in imports brings along an increased risk as well. For example, five types of fish and shrimp had to be banned in 2007 due to them containing cancer-causing chemicals and antibiotics. With most foods, companies are not required to label where ingredients come from, only where the food was packaged or processed. That means that a food product could have 20 ingredients from 20 different countries, and we would have no idea.
Michael Doyle, the director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia said, “The pet food recall earlier this year from a tainted Chinese ingredient, followed by the seafood ban, has brought renewed attention to our potential issues with our food safety regarding Chinese imported foods. […] The Chinese have a long way to bring their standards up to ours.” The FDA inspects only 1 percent of the imported goods.

Here is the link to the article - Chinese Food Products


It is an interesting article to read concerning our food supply. I am by no means opposed to production overseas, but when it comes to our food supply, the lack of control really scares me.

The point of all this is just to make sure you are thoroughly reading the labels of products that are going directly into our body. We can't sit around moaning and complaining all day about how poorly we feel if we don't understand where our food is coming from and what it is containing.

---

[1] (Pifer, 2007)

[2] (Pifer, 2007)

Organic Olive Oil Whipped Butter

We buy organic butter and there is something about it that keeps it pretty solid even at room temperature. I decided today that I would make whipped butter with it for the fresh French bread.

1 stick organic butter, room temperature
1/4 cup cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil
1/4 organic milk

I combined the butter and olive oil for a while with the whisk attachment on my KitchenAid on the highest. I then added the milk. 

It whipped up so nice!

It is delicious with the taste of olive oil. I prefer just olive oil on my bread with balsamic vinegar, but for the rest of the family, this is a nice balance. It has great flavor on the fresh bread.

Organic French Bread Boule

I have been prepping for a week getting ready to start making artisan breads. There were quite a few things I needed to get, like a baking stone for the oven and a KitchenAid mixer since I was not going to be making this all by hand.

I made the French bread dough last night in my KitchenAid mixer.

5 1/3 cup organic bread flour
1 tablespoon (14 g) sea salt - I use Celtic for the vital nutrients and minerals
2 1/4 teaspoon (7 g) instant yeast
2 cups 95 degree water

I weighed the salt and yeast on a scale. Just a difference in brand can make a complete difference in the amount of salt and yeast going in. I bought the cheapest little scale I could find on Amazon. (I am upset with myself every time I go for the cheapest.) This little scale is more apt to weigh crack rocks and an 8 ball of cocaine (I watch way too many jail shows). This scale was not meant to weigh food products. My mother in law even laughed when she saw the scale and asked if I was going to start making and selling artisan drugs now too.

I hid the scale.

The yeast I only found at Woodman's. Sendik's did not have instant yeast.

I combined all the ingredients on low with the paddle in my food mixer. I let it rest for 5 minutes. Then, I switched it to the dough hook and on medium low mixed it for two minutes.

After that, I kneaded it by hand for two minutes, right on my granite countertop that was sanitized and lightly floured. I oiled my hands first though so that the dough wouldn't stick to my hands. I lightly oiled a pan and put the dough in the fridge to cold ferment overnight.

I don't know why I took a picture with the plastic wrap on,
but this is before it went into the fridge

This morning I took the dough out of the fridge and divided it into two pieces. As gently as possibly I formed it into two boules and put it on parchment paper on a pan. It needed to rise for two hours. I used an oil mister and filled it with cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil and misted the bread. I then covered it with plastic wrap.

I was rather nervous about doing this since I hadn't done this before. There is a definite technique required so that the dough doesn't just spread free-form on the pan. I followed this video by Peter Reinhart:

It is his book, Artisan Bread Every Day, that I have been reading in my quest to make perfect, artisan breads.

This book is amazing and so well done.

An hour before baking, I turned on my oven to the highest it would go with my bread stone in the oven.

15 minutes before the boule went into the oven, I took the plastic wrap off. Right before putting the boule in the oven, I used a serrated knife to score four lines on the top.

This is how I prepped my oven right when I was about to put my bread in:

I did exactly what Peter said to do. My mother in law was watching me and she thought it was the most ridiculous routine ever. She can laugh all she wants. I followed the rules to get the proper crust formation. As soon as I put the boule in the oven, I dropped the temperature to 450 degrees.

6 minutes in the oven.

15 minutes in the oven. I'm getting so excited now because it is turning out so well!

I had it in the oven for 12 minutes and then I rotated it in the oven and baked it another 15 minutes. It looked done to me. I took it out and the inside was a perfect 200 degrees.

A beautiful little loaf!

It was allowed to cool about 2 minutes before we couldn't wait any longer to try it.

I have the other boule I made in the fridge waiting for when all the boys to come home. I will bake it when they get home. 

This is a great recipe! If you aren't familiar with bread baking, I think this was easy enough to give it a try.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

This spaghetti sauce was originally a recipe used for homemade lasagna. When I made it for the first time, my family loved it so much that I ended up making it for spaghetti. This sauce is so rich in flavor, and it feels good to know that you are making it from quality ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 3 slices of finely chopped, fried and drained bacon
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

I got grass fed organic ground chuck and Italian sausage from Sendik's. I cooked the meat in a Dutch oven and strained the fat. I added the cooked bacon. I then added the crushed tomatoes, paste and sauce of which were all organic with the water. I added the sugar, basil, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and parsley. I simmered for about two hours on very low heat. We used the sauce on our spaghetti and to dip fresh French bread slices.

The longer it simmers, the more the flavors come out.

Even the baby loved the sauce.